Electronic office systems frequently provide for the sharing of information through the use of data repositories called electronic libraries. These electronic (shared) libraries are capable of being accessed by users of common networks as well as users of networks of interconnected pieces of equipment and programs. A user (end user) may be any person, device, program, or computer system that utilizes the systems for information processing and information exchange. Within such systems, users frequently need to create new documents in target libraries using existing documents in source libraries, or enter new documents to existing folders. What is meant by source library is the currently existing site where the contents of a document are stored. In contrast, a target library is the site where a new copy of a source document is desired. The source and target libraries are frequently different but may exist in the same library. One method of creating these new documents requires the issuance of two separate commands. The first, a RETRIEVE command, fetches the document from the source library. A FILE command then stores the newly fetched document in the target library. Therefore, two independent actions are required for each attempted recreation of a document.
Another problem with document recreation centers around an inability to specify unique names for the target library documents. Users are limited to system generated names and cannot employ their own unique names for newly created documents. This limitation precludes the recreation of document from a source library into an existing folder consisting of a combination of related documents grouped together.
Still another problem exists when revisable documents are permitted in shared libraries. Several different users may obtain copies of an original revisable document and each may make changes to their copies. If the user were to later write their copies over the original revisable document, there would be no method of determining the state of the document in the library absent knowledge of each user's changes or the order in which the copies were reinserted in the library. What is needed is a method of copying documents in a single unit of work while insuring the integrity of changes made to revisable documents in a shared library.